A parapithecid stem anthropoid of African origin in the Paleogene of South America

SEIFFERT, E.; TEJEDOR, MARCELO F.; FLEAGLE, JOHN G.; NOVO, NELSON M.; CORNEJO, F.; BOND, M.; DE VRIES, D.; CAMPBELL, K.

SCIENCE

AMER ASSOC ADVANCEMENT SCIENCE

Año: 2020 vol. 368 p. 194 - 197

0036-8075

Phylogenetic evidence suggests that platyrrhine (or New World) monkeys and caviomorph rodents of theWestern Hemisphere derive from source groups from the Eocene of Afro-Arabia, a landmass thatwas ~1500 to 2000 kilometers east of South America during the late Paleogene. Here, we reportevidence for a third mammalian lineage of African origin in the Paleogene of South America?a newlydiscovered genus and species of parapithecid anthropoid primate from Santa Rosa in AmazonianPerú. Bayesian clock?based phylogenetic analysis nests this genus (Ucayalipithecus) deep within theotherwise Afro-Arabian clade Parapithecoidea and indicates that transatlantic rafting of the lineageleading to Ucayalipithecus likely took place between ~35 and ~32 million years ago, a dispersal windowthat includes the major worldwide drop in sea level that occurred near the Eocene-Oligocene boundary.